Cigar lighter



Jam 17, 1939. A. A. JOHNSON 2,144,376

CIGAR LIGHTER Filed May 8, 1936 Patented Jan.j17, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE cross LIGHTER Application May 8, 1986, Serial No. 78,529

14 Claims. (Cl. 219-32) This invention relates to cigar lighters, and more particularly, to devices of this character as used in automobiles and elsewhere.

Lighters for cigars, cigarettes, and the like of the kind just indicated, commonly comprise a holding device, in the form of a well and electrically served by connections to a source of current such that in the well there is a gap in an otherwise complete circuit, and an igniting unit 10 in the form of a plug adapted to be stored in and removed from the well for storage and use respectively, such unit having a heating element and carrying contacts so arranged that while the unit is in shallow or storage position in the well,

15 said circuit is open at said gap, but while the unit is in a deep or operative position in the well said gap is closed by the contacts on the unit to place said heating element in the circuit for heating to incandescence.

20 An object of the present invention is to provide a means for indicating at a glance the location of the well, as its precise position say on the instrument board of an automobile, following removal of the unit from the well, so that one 25 using the unit to light a cigar, cigarette, or the like can have no difilculty even in a dim light in locating the mouth of the well and reinserting the unit therein.

Another object of the invention is to provide 30 such a means, and which is an illuminating one of simple and practical type.

Another object is to provide such a means, and one which acts illuminatively, and in such manner, preferably by illuminating an interior wall of 35 the well, that light rays from said means point out the location of the mouth of the well.

A further object is to provide such an indicating means, and one which is readily attachable to a previously constructed lighter already in- ,10 stalled.

Still another object is to provide an indicating means for showing the location of the well, and which functions all the while the unit is removed from the well, but which becomes inop- 45 erative on insertion of the unit in the well and remains thus inoperative whether the unit is in shallow or inoperative position or is in deep or energizing position.

These and other objects and advantages will 50 become clear, and the invention will be more fully understood, from the following description, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing showing an embodiment of the invention as at present preferred.

5 In said drawing:

Figure 1 is a view of said embodiment in top plan, partially broken away, and showing the same mounted on a panel seen in section.

Fig. 2 is an axial vertical section, with the igniting unit removed and the illuminating means 5 operative.

Fig. 3 shows such unit in side elevation.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but with the unit inserted and the illuminating means inoperative.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation, looking toward the right in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a transverse section taken substantially on the line 66 of Fig. 4, and with the unit inserted as in Fig. 4.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, but with the unit removed as in Fig. 2.

The cigar lighter of the present invention,.in the exemplary embodiment thereof illustrated in the drawing, is of the sleeve or well type, for use in automobiles, and comprises a holding device III for attachment to a panel ll of an auto mobile, and a removable igniting unit I! of the plug type which is normally supported within the socket or well of the holding device and is positionable therein to energizing or deenergizing po-- sition; the arrangement being such that following insertion of the unit to its deeper or energizing position and after energization of the unit while held in that position it can be electrically dis: connected and removed from the well for manual handling within the car for lighting cigars, cigarettes and the like.

In order to simplify the disclosure, the cigar lighter which has been selected for illustration as one example of cigar lighter to which the invention is advantageously applied, is of the kind wherein the holding device for the removable igniting unit carries at its inner end a contact 13a; such contact normally yieldingly urged by a coil spring it toward the outer end of the holding device ill but limited in this movement, as by a lug l5a laterally struck up from the cylindrical wall of a sheet metal base memberi5 which presents the socket or well for the removable unit l2.

In this kind of lighter, said unit normally is stored in such well as shown in Figure 1, that is, in shallow or deenergizing position relative to a resistance wire heating element (seen at I2'- in Fig. 6) which element is here, as usual, contained within and connected at one end to a metal cup it on the inner end of the unit and at its other end connected to a central contact II on said unit.

2 When the unit I2 is in the well in said shallow or deenerglzing position, it is in normal or storage position; the contacts Ito and I1 being spaced.

When, however, the unit is by its projecting handle l8 pushed deeper into the well to energize the igniting unit these two contacts are brought together and good connection ismaintained by the tension of the spring l4 set up therein due to its abnormally compressed condition all the while the unit is manually held to its deep or energizing position. In this type of lighter, the unit is thus held in such position for a suflicient length of time to allow the heating element of the unit to become incandescent. During this period of time, current is supplied from a wire I9 as one attached by a terminal clip 20.

To describe other familiar features of the light-, er shown: Such clip is secured by a nut 21 to the rear threaded end of a stud 22, held in a sleeve 23 but insulated therefrom by the fibre or other suitable bushing illustrated, and terminatble-headed rivet stud l3, a rosette-shaped receptor plate 25 for the heating-element-houslng' metal cup l6 at the inner end of the unit |2,and an insulating piece 26 including a sleeve portion surrounding the rivet stud I3 and an outer flange portion lying between the outer end of the plunger 24 and the receptor plate 25; so that, with the outer head of said rivet presenting the aforesaid contact l3a, and the inner end of said rivet providing a contact |3b in line with the contact 22a fixed in the bottom of the well, all

parts of said rivet, including the two contacts in and B1) at the opposite ends thereof, are insulated from the plunger and consequently from the metal base member l5.

Thus, while the unit I2 is held in its deep or energizing position in the well in said base member, thereby bringing together the contacts 220 and Nb, and also the contacts I3a and I1, this last on the unit l2, the current supplied by the wire [9 passes through the heating element at the inner end of said unit, and the circuit for such current is completed to ground by way of the metal cap I6 and a metallically connected ferlllllle 21, the metal base member 15, and the panel The lighter is secured to the panel II, usually that of the instrument board, by being inserted through a suitable aperture II a; in the present case the base member l having a flange I50 at the front end thereof engaging the front face of the-panel for being clamped against the latter by a U-shaped yoke 28 fitted over sleeve 22 when a nut 29, between which and said yoke is interposed a split washer 30, is drawn up tight.

Ordinarily, and as here shown, such base member has a tongue l5a struck therefrom to extend longitudinally I of the well; such tongue being shaped and resiliently biased as indicated in Fig. 2, to make good contact with the ferrule 21 oi the unit when the latter is inserted to deep or energizing position as shown in Figure 1; such tongue being subtended by a U-shaped slot best.

angers shown in the last-mentioned view, where such slot is marked lb.

Said slot llb, customarily present in a lighter of the kind hereinabove described, can conveniently be made use of, and shown as being made use of, as an element of the shown embodiment of the invention, so as, incicidentally;toillustrate a carrying out of the invention in a; way to allow of the practical applicability of an easily added accessory to an already manufactured lighter thereby to provide a new lighter pursuant to the invention;

Thus, in the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing, the same includes, as the means for illuminating the igniting unit-receiving well of a holding member when said unit is removed therefrom, an electric light bulb 3| so is in the present case positioned as to lie over or opposite the slot l5b whereby light rays from such bulb, desirably concentrated and directed by a, reflector hood 32, pass through the said slot I 51). At the same time, in said embodiment, a means is provided for controlling the lighting of the bulb, and operable to render said bulb operative while the unit is removed from the well and to render said bulbinoperative while the unit is in either of its two positions in the well; which means includes the two legs of the U of the slot I5b.

In these two slot elements ride and are guided the depending legs of an insulation piece 33 of inverted U shape. At its central length this piece 33 is secured, as most clearly seen at 34 in Figure 1, to a metal strip 32a extended parallel with and over tongue I5a, and here present as an ina tegral portion of reflector hood 32; said strip being, as seen best from a comparison of Figures 1, 2 and 6, a rearwardly bent reduced extension of a downwardly forwardly arched band-type portion 32b of the reflector 32, the other reflector element of which is in the shape of an inverted trough marked 32c in Fig. 6.

A socket 35 for the bulb 3! is secured to a depending wall member 32d integral with the refiector hood 32, by means of a stud 36.

This stud secures the socket 35 and the refiector hood 32 to a bracket arm 31, but in a manner to insulate said arm and also the stud 36 from the metallic parts 32 and 35, by means of an insulation structure indicated at 38.

Said stud 36 at its inner headed end provides the center contact for bulb 3|, and also acts as a bolt to clamp the socket and the reflector hood together to bracket arm 31, by application of a nut 39 to the outer threaded end of the stud. The bracket arm 31 is here a suitably bent strip of spring metal, having a length terminally apertured to receive the threaded outer end of stud 22, and being secured to such stud between an outer nut 40 and an inner nut 4|, the nut 41 being tightened against a washer 42 bearing against an end of sleeve 22.

Due to resiliency of the bracket arm 31, all the parts carried thereby are normally urged to the locations shown in Figs. 2 and 7, that is, the de pending legs of insulation slider 33 are down all the way in the parallel slot subdivisions of the slot l5b, and a good spring-pressed contact is maintained between strip 32a of the reflector hood 32 and tongue I511. Then the bulb 35 is illuminated; the current supplied by the wire l9 passing through bracket arm 31 and through stud 36 to the center contact of the bulb, through the filament of the latter to the base shell thereof, then through the socket 35 to the reflector hood 32 and by way of the strip 32a of the latter to ground through metal base member l5.

It will be noted that in the present case said strip and base member together constitute the two contacts of a switch, to be closed to cause illumination of the bulb. Such switch is. automatically closed on removal of the igniting unit l2, as just explained, and thus all the time said unit is out of the well in the holding member In, light rays pass from the bulb through an aperture in said member, here parts of the slot l5b, and illuminate a wall of the well to a suillcient extent always to show at a glance the location of the mouth of the well under such dark or dimly lighted conditions in an automobile or elsewhere as would otherwise make the well mouth diflicult to locate.

As soon as the igniting unit is reinserted in the well, the ferrule 21 of the unit engages the dipped inner end of the tongue i5a, so that as the unit is placed in shallow or storage position in the well, as shown in Fig. 2, the slider 33 is elevated and the switch for the lighting circuit is opened. This switch is maintained open not only while the unit is in storage position, but also while it is in deep or energizing position in the well. Thus, only while the lighter is removed from the well is the bulb 35 illuminated, which is the only time it is desired to have such bulb illuminated.

It will be noted that the embodiment shown and described is attachable to a standard lighter, already installed, as, for instance, the one illustrated, quickly and easily, and without alteration or break-down of the lighter.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of this invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. A cigar lighter comprising a holding device in the form of a well; an igniting unit in the form of a plug adapted to be inserted in and removed from the well for storage and use respectively; a heating element carried by the igniting unit; means for connecting the heating element to a source of current while the igniting unit is in the holding device to bring the heating element to incandescence for use; means for illuminating the interior of the holding device to facilitate the reinsertion of the igniting unit in-the holding device by the user; means for yieldingly maintaining the illuminating means operative while the igniting unit is removed from the holding device; and means carried by the igniting unit for overcoming the resistance to yield of the last-mentioned means for rendering the illuminating means inoperative when the igniting unit is inserted in the holding device.

2. A cigar lighter comprising a holding device in the form of a well; an igniting unit in the form of a plug adapted to be inserted in and removed from the well for storage and use respectively; a heating element carried by the igniting unit; means for connecting the heating element to a source of current while the igniting unit is in the holding device to bring the heating element to incandescence for use; means operative while the igniting unit is removed from the holding device for illuminating the interior of the latter to facilitate the reinsertion of the igniting unit in the holding device by the user; in which the holding device is of the type having an aperture in a side wall thereof, in which the means for illuminating the interior of the holding device comprises a lamp and in which there is a bracket for holding the lamp adjacent said aperture,

there also being means for detachably mounting the bracket on the holding device for securement thereto after the same has been passed through a hole in a supporting panel board, the means last-mentioned including said aperture.

3. A cigar lighter comprising a holding device in the form of a well; an igniting unit in the form of a plug adapted to be inserted in and removed from the well for storage and use respectively; a heating element carried by the igniting unit; means for ,connecting the heating element to a source of current while the igniting unit is in the holdingdevice to bring the heating element to incandescence for use; means comprising a lamp operative while the igniting unit is removed from the holding device for illuminating the interior of the latter to facilitate the reinsertion of the igniting unit in the holding device by the user; a bracket for holding the lamp illuminatively positioned relative to the well of the holding device, said lamp being movable with the bracket to a plurality of positions; and circuit-closing means for the lamp operable when the lamp is in one of said positions, said bracket being resilient and being adapted to normally urge the lamp to the position last-mentioned.

4. A cigar lighter comprising a holding device in the form of a well; an igniting unit in the form of a plug adapted to be inserted in and removed from the well for storage and use respectively; a heating element carried by the igniting unit; means for connecting the heating element to a source of current while'the igniting unit is in the holding device to bring the heating element to incandescence for use; means comprising a lamp operative while the igniting unit is removed from the holding device for illuminating the interior of the latter to facilitate the reinsertion of the igniting unit in the holding device by the user; a bracket for holding the lamp illuminatively positioned relative to the well of the holding device, said lamp being movable with the bracket to a plurality of positions; and circuit-closing means for the lamp operable when the lamp is in one of said positions, said bracket being resilient and being adapted to normally urge the lamp to the position last-mentioned, there being means engaged by the igniting unit when the latter is in normal position on the holding device for moving the bracket against said resilient action to move the lamp to another position to render the circuit-closing means inoperative.

5. A cigar lighter comprising a holding device in the form of a well; an igniting unit in the form of a plug adapted to be inserted in and removed from the well for storage and use respectively; a heating element carried by the igniting unit; means for connecting the heating element to a source of current while the igniting unit is in the holding device to bring the heating element to incandescence for use: means comprising a lamp operative while the igniting unit is removed from the holding device for illuminating the interior of the latter to facilitate the reinsertion of the igniting unit in the holding device by the user; a bracket for holding the lamp illuminatively positioned relative to the well 01' the holding device, said lamp being movable with the bracket to a plurality of positions; and circuit-closing means for the lamp operable when the lamp is in one of said positions, said bracket being resilient and being adapted to normally urge the lamp to the position last-mentioned, there being means engaged by the igniting unit when the latter is in normal position on the holding device for moving the bracket against said resilient action to move the lamp to another position to render the circuit-closingmeans inoperative, said bracket-moving means including a part carried by the bracket and inserted in an openingniting unit; means for connecting the heating element to a source of current while the igniting unit is in the holding device to bring the heating element to incandescence for use; means comprising a lamp operative while the igniting unit is removed from the holding device for illuminating the interior of the latter to facilitate the reinsertion of the igniting unit in the holding device by theuser; a bracket for holding the lamp illuminatively positioned relative to the well of the holding device, said lamp being movable with the bracket to a plurality of positions; and circuit-closing means for the lamp-operable when the lamp is in one of said positions, said bracket being resilient and being adapted to normally urge the lamp to the position last-mentioned, there being means engaged by the igniting unit when the latter is in normal position on the holding device for moving the bracket against said.

resilient action to move the lamp to another position to render the circuit-closing means inoperative, said bracket including a reflector hood for the lamp, and said bracket-moving means including a part carried by the bracket and inserted in an opening in a wall of the holding device.

7. A cigar lighter comprising a holding device in the form of a well; an igniting unit in the form of a plug adapted to be inserted in and removed from the well for storage and use respectively; a heating element carried by the igniting unit; means for connecting the heating element to a source of current while the igniting unit is in the holding device to bring the heating element to incandescence for use; means operative while the igniting unit is removed from the holding device and for delivering a light beam to make more visible the unit-receiving end 01' the well, said means including a lamp, a lamp energizing circuit, a switch for closing said circuit, and means for automatically closing said switch when the unit is removed from the holding device; and means carried by the unit for opening said switch when the unit is inserted in the holding device.

8. A cigar lighter comprising a holding device in the form of a well; an igniting unit in the form of a plug adapted to be inserted in and removed from the well for storage and use respectively; a heating element carried by the igniting unit; means for connecting the heating element to a source of current while the igniting unit is in the holding device to bring the heating element to incandescence for use; means operative while the igniting unit is removed from the holding device and for delivering a light beam to make more visible the unit-receiving end of the well, said means including a lamp, a lamp energizing circult, a switch for closing said circuit, and means for automatically closing said switch when the unit is removed from the holding device; and means carried by the unit tor opening said switch when the unit is inserted in the holding device and for maintaining said switch open whether the unit" is in-open shallow storage position or in deep energizing position in the holding device.

9. The invention according to claim 7, wherein a mount is provided for said lamp permitting movement of the lamp relative to the holding device, and said switch includes a pair of contacts one of which is a part movable with the lamp and the other of which is carried by the holding device.

ii). The invention according to claim 7, wherein a mount is providedior said lamp permitting movement or the lamp relative to the holding device, and said switch includes a pair of contacts one of which is a part movable with the lamp and the other of which is carried by the holding device, said mount being a resilient structure urging the switch to closed position.

11. The invention according to claim 7, wherein the means for automatically closing the switch includes a switch mount, the holding device has an external terminal for supplying current to the heating element of the unit when the latter is in energizing position in the holding device, and said mount includes a part shaped for securement to said terminal to attach the mount to the holding device.

12. The invention according to claim '7, wherein a mount is provided for said lamp permitting movement of the lamp relative to the holding device, and said switch includes a pair of contacts one of which is a part movable with the lamp and the other of which is carried by the holding device, the holding device having a slot therein and a tongue struck therefrom, such tongue for coacting with a conducting part of the unit to ground the energizing circuit for the heating element of the unit when the unit is inserted in the holding device, and the contact 'of said switch which is movable with the lamp having ari actuator inserted in said'slOt for engagement by the unit on insertion of the unit in the holding device thereby to open said switch,

13. A cigar lighter comprising a holding device; an igniting unit mounted on the holding device for complete removal for use; means associated with said holding device for illuminating the same including a lamp; and means controlled by the igniting unit upon its removal from the holding device for energizing said lamp to cause the holding device to be illuminated and facilitate remounting of the igniting unit on the holding device.

14. A cigar lighter comprising a holding device; an igniting unit mounted on the holding device for complete removal for use; means associated with said holding device for illuminating the same including a lamp; and means controlled by the igniting unit upon its removal from the holding device for energizing said lamp, said lamp when energized indicating the absence of said igniting unit from the holding device.

ARTHUR A. JoHNs Nf 

